Top 10: Metal Albums of 1992

Has it really been 30 years since 1992? Not that I was alive back then, but it feels just like yesterday that it was 2012 and 13 year old me was celebrating the 20th anniversary of these classic albums. Now I’m 23 and writing about them for their 30th anniversary. Many of the bands on this list are still active today; one time underground trailblazers, now extreme metal forefathers. There’s also a couple 80s bands who came into the new decade swinging, as well as a 70s titan that refused to die. Get ready for all that and more with our Top 10 Metal Albums of 1992.

10. Napalm Death – Utopia Banished

Having perfected the deathgrind sound on 1990’s Harmony Corruption, Napalm Death capitalized upon the formula on their follow up album, Utopia Banished. Not only this, but the band’s incorporation of thick, thrashy mosh riffs (i.e. “I Abstain”, “Aryanisms”, “The World Keeps Turning”) added an even heavier edge to this already pummeling album. Come the mid 90s, Napalm Death would almost exclusively shift their focus to this groove oriented sound, disillusioning much of the death metal crowd along the way. However, it’s Utopia Banished that so perfectly balances the chaotic punk of the band’s past with the metallic explorations of their future. There’s no telling how many extreme metal acts this album spawned along the way.

9. Sodom – Tapping the Vein

There’s no denying that Sodom was one of the most important extreme metal acts of the 80s. Their early output was crucial in the development of black metal, and albums like Persecution Mania (1987) and Agent Orange (1989) pushed thrash’s extremity to levels previously unheard. This band was an all out musical blitzkrieg with zero signs of slowing down. After dipping their toe into the traditional metal pool on 1990’s Better Off Dead, Sodom fully embraced the early 90s death metal revolution on their fifth full length, Tapping the Vein. If you didn’t know any better, you’d be forgiven for thinking this album was recorded at Morrisound Studios. The same way Painkiller saw Judas Priest acknowledging the very thrash bands they shaped and influenced with a record of similar nature, Tapping the Vein functioned the same for Sodom, boasting brutal riffs and demented arrangements that stand toe to toe with anything Morbid Angel, Deicide, or Obituary were putting out at the time.

8. Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer

The late 80s and early 90s were a dark time for Black Sabbath. Despite releasing a string of brilliant, proto-gothic metal albums with Tony Martin on vocals, the one time be all, end all metal band was now playing empty arenas and all but irrelevant to anyone under the age of 40. They needed to make a move and fast. Considering Ozzy Osbourne was riding high on the success of his multiplatinum blockbuster No More Tears (1991), a reunion with their original singer was out of the question. Enter Ronnie James Dio, whose career was also stalling at this point, although not nearly as dramatically as Sabbath’s. In other words, from a commercial standpoint, Iommi needed Dio more than Dio needed Iommi. The result of this reunion was Dehumanizer, which despite not being as cohesive or compelling as Heaven and Hell (1980) and Mob Rules (1981), is a stellar slab of dark, doomy traditional metal. Cuts like “I”, “Computer God”, and “TV Crimes” have since become anthems and staples of the Sabbath catalog.

7. Deicide – Legion

Of all the Florida death metal bands, none were more blatantly sinister, evil, and downright demonic than Deicide. It’s hard to argue otherwise when your frontman has an inverted cross branded upon his forehead. Of course, much of these satanic theatrics would prove to be nothing more than schtick in the online age. But this is the early 1990s we’re talking about: the last era before technology took over EVERYTHING. And whether or not you believed everything you read about Deicide in the pages of underground zines, there’s no denying the devastating power and force of their masterpiece second album, Legion. Musically speaking, Legion took everything about the band’s 1990 self titled debut, only to make it darker and deadlier. It plays out like the musical equivalent of a terrifying horror film, leaving the hair on the back of your neck standing from beginning to end.

6. Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power

There are some albums whose titles and cover art couldn’t be more straightforward, like Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power. The title speaks for itself. The cover, depicting an actual dude actually getting punched in the face, is meant to symbolize the sheer “power” (get it?) of the music within, and boy does it do so. Gone are the thrashy tendencies and traditional metal flourishes of Cowboys from Hell (1990). Vulgar Display of Power places full emphasis on the groove, yet without lacking dynamism. You’ve got mosh pit ragefests (“A New Level”, “Fucking Hostile”, “Rise), unexpected arena rock staples (“Walk”, “Mouth for War”), and even dark power ballads (“This Love”, “Hollow”). The album would cement Pantera’s status as the unlikeliest rockstars of the decade and pave the way for practically all modern hard rock and metal to follow, for better or worse.

5. Demolition Hammer – Epidemic of Violence

Who said thrash was dead? The genre may have been lying dormant in 1992, but it sure wasn’t history. That is as long as Demolition Hammer had something to do with it. Just two years after releasing their excellent debut, Tortured Existence (1990), the New York barbarians returned with not only the most brutal and savage offering of their career, but perhaps the most brutal and savage thrash record ever recorded, Epidemic of Violence. There are some thrash albums where you seriously have to ask yourself, “How extreme can it be without being heavier than thrash (i.e. death or black metal)?” I personally draw the line with Epidemic. The songs are neck snapping fast, the instrumentation is barbaric, and the breakdowns hit like a cinderblock to the skull, as if specifically created for a mosh pit from hell. 30 years on and Demolition Hammer are still spreading their Epidemic of Violence with a series of well received reunion shows.

4. Impetigo – Horror of the Zombies

While Florida and New York were hailed for their legendary death metal scenes, there was one band of mutants from the “Heart of Illinois” who offered their own unique take on the genre, one whose vein hasn’t properly been tapped since. That band was Impetigo. While the Floridians captured the hellish spirit of living in such an infernal climate, and the New Yorkers packed the aggression of the streets into their riffs, Impetigo embodied the dark inner thoughts that occur when living in a desolate wasteland of nothingness. You see, Bloomington, Illinois is the type of town where if a 9 foot, 3 eyed inbred freak popped out of the bushes and ate you in one bite, it wouldn’t be a surprising news story. I’m not joking. Impetigo’s music reflected that, drawing inspiration from obscure B movies and real life serial killings. The music, which lie somewhere between death, doom, and grind, has an overtly gory quality to it. It’s no wonder goregrind would become a scene in it’s own respect just a few short years later.

3. Asphyx – Last One on Earth

What do you do when you’re a key member of one of the most influential death metal acts of the late 80s? Leave the band and join one of the most influential death metal acts of the 90s, of course! That’s exactly what Pestilence vocalist Martin van Drunen did when joining Asphyx. The band came in strong with their debut full length, The Rack (1991), but it wasn’t until the following year that they’d make their grand statement: Last One on Earth. Let me just go on the record to say this album has the nastiest, sharpest, most jagged guitar tone ever recorded, and I can’t get enough of it. The riffs on here make Entombed’s Left Hand Path sound quaint by comparison. Seriously, did Eric Daniels record this album with strings or barbed wire? It SOUNDS like the latter, especially on cuts like “Asphyx (Forgotten War)” and the immortal “Serenade in Lead”. This, coupled with can Drunen’s twisted vocals and doomy breakdowns that stand toe to toe with Sabbath and Hellhammer, makes Last One on Earth the finest death metal album of 1992, without question.

2. Faith No More – Angel Dust

Remember that scene in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory when the titular character takes the children and their parents on the boat ride from hell? Imagine that scene in the form of music, extended for roughly an hour, and you’d have Faith No More’s Angel Dust. A Molotov cocktail of anxiety, vitriol, and a healthy dose of sick humor for good measure, wrapped up into an erratic ball of avant-garde metal brilliance, Angel Dust had no business going gold, let alone scoring a pair of rock radio hits in “Midlife Crisis” and “A Small Victory”. And yet it did. I guess one can consider these more consumer friendly songs slices of sanity amidst the likes of the metallic attack of “Caffeine”, diabolic disco rock of “Crack Hitler”, and schizophrenic ramblings of “Jizzlobber”.

1. W.A.S.P. – The Crimson Idol

By 1992, anything remotely associated with traditional metal, hard rock, AOR, glam metal, etc., was dead in the water. OK, I guess that’s not entirely true. Iron Maiden and Ozzy embarked on successful amphitheater runs that summer, but for the crop that dominated MTV and rock radio just a few years earlier, the writing was on the wall. That’s why with W.A.S.P. being so steeped in 80s music and culture, frontman Blackie Lawless figured it was time to embark upon the obligatory solo jaunt. Forget the raw meat, pseudo-satanic imagery, and perverse lyrics of his past band. Now was his time to shine as an artist.

Of course, when it came time to release The Crimson Idol, Capitol Records insisted Blackie Lawless keep the W.A.S.P. moniker, if only they should sell 5,000 copies as opposed to 500. And although it stalled commercially, The Crimson Idol would prove to be both W.A.S.P. and Lawless’s masterpiece. The album, following in the grandiose tradition of rock operas like The Who’s Tommy (1969) and Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1979), tells the tale of the rise and fall of a fictitious rockstar named Jonathan Steel. The character, an amalgamation of Lawless and other rockstars he encountered over the years, is a tragic one. It isn’t until the end that he realizes all the fame and fortune in the world won’t fill the loveless void in his heart.

I strongly believe that had this album came out in the 80s, somewhere alongside Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime, it would’ve propelled W.A.S.P. to the next level both commercially and critically. Sure a small handful of individuals would’ve likely dismissed it as overblown, overambitious, and just flat out pretentious. Hell, many did upon the album’s release in 1992 anyways, but it would’ve fared a lot better in say 1988 than 1992. But I’m glad this album came out when it did, because it will forever hold this site’s title for the best metal album of 1992.

Honorable Mentions

• Brutal Truth – Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
• Danzig – Danzig III: How the Gods Kill
• Darkthrone – A Blaze in the Northern Sky
• KISS – Revenge
• Samael – Blood Ritual